Help Your Essential Friends: Suggestions On Contributing To National Park Friends Groups

Throughout the summer we've been celebrating the work of national park friends groups. While the summer is coming to an end, their good work continues throughout the year. And with that in mind, they could use your support to fund that work. Here's a look back at some of the park system's "essential friends" and how you can support them.

* The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation takes pride in being the only Blue Ridge Parkway partner organization that allows for maximum flexibility in the use of each donated dollar, regardless of donor interests. See all the options at www.brpfoundation.org.

* Purchase a North Carolina Blue Ridge Parkway Specialty Plate if you live in NC. $20 of your $30 fee goes directly to the Foundation for Parkway projects and programs.

* Join the Andre Michaux Society, the French explorer who thought he’d climbed the “highest peak in all North America” when he looked down across the future Parkway route in 1794.

* Give to the Foundation’s honors and memorials program. If you know a family member or friend with a deep personal connection to the Parkway—or just wonderful memories of a visit long ago—honor them. Gifts larger than $5,000 create an endowment fund.

* Claim your own special “Inch of the Parkway” at MyInchOfTheEarth.com. You’ll be able to share pictures and stories describing why this place is important to you, and share your story and special place with friends through Facebook, Twitter, email and more and invite others to claim their own virtual inch. Proceeds will be shared with the National Park Foundation and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

* Fall, or Spring, for the Glacier Fund. Attend either the Fall for Glacier or Spring for Glacier fundraising events the Glacier Fund hosts.

* Consider volunteering. Gardeners wanted! Trade your plot beside the driveway with a setting in Glacier and restore the park by pulling non-native weeds. The Glacier Fund could use help with that, as well as its Citizen Science program, at the Native Plant Nursery, and on trail crews.

* Find and fill a donation box. Voluntary donations are a key funding source for the Friends, and the easy-to-find boxes are located at many spots. Drop in a $20, or more, and call it the park entrance fee you didn’t have to pay.

* Become a Friend of the Smokies. Research shows that Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the nation’s number one park in generating economic impact, jobs, and income for area communities. Pay it forward! Join the Friends and enjoy reduced admission and other perks at local businesses (like Dollywood and Great Smoky Mountains Railroad)! Focus on our designated proceeds program and you can donate to a special project to benefit the park.

* Gifts in Kind. Donations of money are important, whether through stocks and securities, a bequest from your will—or in cash. But gifts in kind are welcome too. Think about how your business can help and give the gift of goods (for fundraising events) or services (that reduce the Foundation's costs).

* Volunteer. Lend your muscles and sweat by getting involved with trail crews. It’s a great way to help the Friends help the park, and you’ll meet others equally passionate for the Smokies.

* Purchase a Shenandoah National Park license plate for your car or motorcycle.

* Check-in—at any of the classic park lodges. The lodging fee at Big Meadows Lodge, Skyland Resort, or Lewis Mountain’s historic cabins includes $1 per room per night for the Trust, unless you request to have that removed from your bill.

* Hike your way to higher impact for the park. Join the Trust and your membership includes automatic membership in the Hundred Mile Club. When you reach 25, 50, 75 and 100 miles, the Trust sends great gifts. To help you reach your hundred miles, the Trust has regularly scheduled, guided hikes and The Shenandoah Scramble on Saturday, September 22, 2012, is a hiker’s fundraising event that will bring hikers together for food and fun in Shenandoah National Park.

* Collar a wolf. For $2,500 or $5,000 you can put a VHF or GPS collar on one of the park’s wolves for tracking. For $50, you can help contribute to the purchase of a VHF or GPS collar.

* Join the 1872 Society. With annual giving of $1,000 or more your donation can make a long-running difference.

* Adopt some park wildlife. Through the Foundation’s adoption program, your dollars go towards wildlife research, and you get a plush animal in return.

These are just a few of the roughly 150 friends groups that help units of the National Park System make ends meet. Find one that supports your favorite park in the system and consider donating to them.

I'd vote for the International Mountain Bicycling Association (www.imba.com). It's helping the National Park Service expand its base of support to the millions of people who like to ride bicycles on trails—a quiet way to visit the national parks with almost no environmental impact.